Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1887-06-06


son gave the parting kiss all resolved 20
rush nobly 10 the rescue. This was be-
cause they loved freedom and it. flag and
felt that those who should administer
their government would deal justly with
them or their dear ones who might sur
vive them. Bull Runs disaster proved
the nations victory: the failure Of the
Penmsular campaign knit together the
hearts of the North aud Fast reverses
in Tennessee and Louisiana and along the
great rivers of the West. hut girt anew
the young giant Of the prairies for renew
ed contest. Fredericksburg Chancellors-
vile, Antietam, Gettysburg. Cold Harbor
Drury's Bluff and Petersburg with the dis
tant roar of Vicksburg. shiloh, Atlanta
and Mission Ridge, were but fires and
forges wherein were moulded, and
hammered, and bent and fashioned the
links of that chain which the giant Grant
should calmly. surely wind about the con-
federacy till it sank into the last ditch,
under the apple-trees at AppomattoN. 20
sweetly rest forever There were over
:, $500 enlistments from the North In
the army besides those in the navy. sNer-
mont furnished % 23s men. composed of
seventeen regiments of infantry. one Of
cavalry, three batteries, three corps Of
sharpshooters. two corps of frontier cav
airy, one brigade band. Total killed died Of
wounds and disease. ,, FPS; total Alled in
action, l ,OG5. or this number, one brig
ade, viz, the lst. had Gs3 killed.
Who can number those who mourneds
Who can estimate the tears, fears, hopes,
agonies and horrors of those dark nights,
blood-covered days and fearful years Of
carnage? What pen can picture the long
and weary marches. the prolonged skir-
mishing. the rain-swept bivouac, the
crowded hospital, the terrible battle, wild
charges the clash and roar and blaze of
long batteries, bombs bursting in the air,
the charge of horses, the wild retreat, the
Joyous victory, the means, curses ana
prayers of the dying, the horrid features
of the dead, the distant echo of weeping
widows and wailing orphans: No more
oh, God, no more, but give us peacel
The dead we cannot requite. They
heed not the deep-toned cannon, they fear
not nations neglect; they care not for
the nations money. Titles. Renown, am
bition are meaningless words 10 them.
If one word shall stir them from their
cold sleep and cause the blood to tingle
through silent arteries, to flow and flush
anew their pale features, that word is the
word they loved so WELL cherished SO
long, spoke so gently and Illustrated So
grandly; the one word, COmrdde. ] sum
mon the dead to-day. / ask Baker,
question Thomas, ! inquire OF kearneY,
Reynolds, Meade, Hancock; / challenge
Little Mac, climb McGregor's Hill and
speak to him who never surrendered,
save to Death, the silent Grant; ] ask
them one and all, who shall this nation
honor? From ranks aud serried files,
from field and battle grounds, fIom lone
ly river and deep forest glades, from
LookOuts height and Mission Ridge,
from plain and town and city, where
sleep our dead, comes up the cry, pro-
longed intensified and grand, "Hy Conn
rddes!' Citizens, will you heed this vocef
We have paid of, since 1862, nearly Sl,-
600 ,O00, 900 of bonds and more than 81
O0O, 900 900 of interest on bonds. These
are startling figures, indeed, absolutely
bewiIdering. Whv not call halt here?
Make no more calculations of interest
and pay no more. "Oh," you say, "our
bonds and coupons are out; our word il
we can not stipulate these"
ha f.ff this
| republic, is out for these other debts, due
to these soldiers, it is written with their
blood, sealed with their life and sanctihed
with orphans and widows tears. But
the government forced these bonds upon
us. She entered our stores, put her hand
upon our tills and said, "Give us what
they hold, give or we choke your business
To DEATH" Just SO, when the pinch
came; she entered our homes and put her
hand upon our loved ones and said,
"Come with me to die, come or we choke
you here" The one obligation Is just "a
sacred as the other, and to repudiate ei-
ther would be public disgrace, "a nation
al crime. Yet, who is so startled at the
vast amount of our pension roll as 20 cry
halt in this direction, ever raise a voice 10
suggest halt in the otherg Not one.
| Why? | will tell you why. Because the
| bond written in ink is held by capital and
wealth, but the bond written in blood Is
held by labor and poverty. And If ever
my tongue cease TO plead for the down
trodden and poor, or my good right arm
to strike in their behalf, may the one for
| get It's cunning and the other cease TO
strike.
The payment to bondholders during the
last twenty-four years has been s9l 500
600; average yearly pension roll has been
| s3I, 800, 900. Excess paid yearly 10 bond
holders, $50, 900 900. There has also been
paid OF the principal OF the public debt,
$3.50, ,O54 ,445; add amount Of interest
paid -, ,205. .0l9.4I9, and we have total
paid bondholders. 50, l04 ,073, 5Gf; total
paid pensioners, s7G5 ,O92 GAO; excess
paid boudholders, over pensioners, -
33S, 9Sl PA. These amounts are enor-
nous, almost incomprehensible, vet they
should not be startling 70 the man who
fairly contemplates the priceless heritage
gained by these expenditures, namely
A Union preserved, "a government incrcas-
ed IN wealth more than three-fOld, and
with worldwide credit appreciated ~ "a
degree above and beyond all other gov
ernments In the world. Again. the bond
holders ran no particular risk. II the
government OF the nation passed from
federal hands. his none y would De- taken
by force, and no recompenSe returned. a.
was practiced at ChamDersburg and iia-
garstown during Lees raid into Maryland
and Pennsylvania. Hence it was - save
his own that he loaned ~ the nation. IN
the UniOn was not preserved he loHt.
n Il wn- he won, his goods must ln.
crease, hl- principal aud interest were
sure The soldier took the risks. Hs
barred bis breast 10 the Fastening streams
Of treason- lightning. and bent his stall
wart form before her fierce-t BLAST. if